Laundry Tuggers

By Raphael, Founder, Heavy Duty Mobility. Reviewed September 8, 2026. Meet our team.

Buy the tugger for the heaviest train you will pull on your worst route, not for the average cart. Then pick the hitch to match the carts, because the carts stay as they are.

What a laundry tugger does

A laundry tugger is a small battery powered tow unit. It does not carry anything. It hitches to a wheeled linen cart or bulk bin and pulls it, the way a truck pulls a trailer. The operator walks behind the tugger, steers with a tiller handle and controls speed with a thumb wheel. Because the load rides on the cart’s own casters, one tugger can serve every cart in the building.

A self propelled linen cart is the opposite approach. The drive is built into the cart, so the cart carries up to 1,500 lb on its own shelves and moves itself. That works well when one department runs one cart on a fixed round. It costs more per cart when you have twenty carts, and it does nothing for the bulk bins a commercial laundry delivers to your dock.

The simple rule we use on the phone. If the carts are yours and there are only a few of them, a self propelled cart is the cleaner buy. If the carts are many, belong to a laundry contractor or move in groups between floors, a tugger moves more per trip and leaves the cart fleet untouched.

Which laundry tugger do you need

The 1062-LS and 1065-LS share the same 24 volt drive, the same 25 by 24 inch footprint, the same 8 hour runtime and the same 2 year frame and motor warranty. They differ in pull rating and battery size.

1. Weigh a loaded cart, then count how many move togetherA loaded bulk linen bin runs about 400 to 600 lb. A big hospital exchange cart can pass 1,000 lb. Add up every cart that moves in one train on your longest route. That total, not the single cart weight, is the number that picks the tugger.
2. Under 2,000 lb on a flat floor, choose the 1062-LSThe Pony Express 1062-LS tows up to 2,000 lb, which covers three loaded bulk bins or one heavy exchange cart. It runs a 0.6 HP motor on a 35 Ah AGM battery, with a 70 Ah pack available if you run long shifts. This is the unit for hotel housekeeping, surgery centers and clinics.
3. Up to 5,000 lb, choose the 1065-LSThe Pony Express 1065-LS tows up to 5,000 lb, which covers a train of eight loaded bins, and its 70 Ah pack carries the extra draw. It is the unit for hospital central laundries, resort laundries and commercial wash plants, and it is the only model that accepts the bin to bin hitch.
4. Size down for rampsBoth ratings are for a flat floor. The manufacturer rates the chassis to a 30 degree grade with a reduced load, so on a dock ramp or a parking deck cut the train weight well below the rating and let the automatic holding brake do its job on the slope.

Hitches that fit your carts

The front mounting plate on both LS models accepts the full Pony Express hitch catalog, and the linen builds add the bracket and ratchet strap you see in the photo above. Match the hitch to the cart, and keep a spare hitch head so one tugger can serve two cart types.

• Bulk poly linen bins and box trucks use the strap bracket, no holes drilled, no cart changes
• Canvas basket trucks and rolling linen cages take a ring coupler or pintle hook on a fixed drawbar
• Exchange carts with a tow bar take the quick release pin hitch
• MOD72P bins behind a 1065-LS take the bin to bin hitch, which links several bins into one train

Where laundry tuggers earn their keep

Hospitals. Soiled linen leaves patient floors by service elevator and clean linen comes back the same way, dozens of times a day. A 1062-LS on each housekeeping floor and a 1065-LS at central laundry is the usual fit. Both run 68 dB horns and a 1.5 mph low mode, so they behave around patients and visitors. Our hospital motorized carts page covers the gas cylinder and supply carts that share the same corridors.

Hotels and resorts. Housekeeping carts and laundry bins travel from the laundry room through back of house corridors to guest floors. Non marking tires matter on finished floors, and the short 25 inch chassis turns inside a service elevator with the cart attached.

Commercial laundries and wash plants. Bins arrive by truck and move from the dock to the wash floor to the finishing line and back. Trains of six to eight bins behind a 1065-LS replace a shift of manual pushing. The bin to bin hitch keeps the train straight so bins do not collide in the aisle.

Why facilities switch from pushing to towing

EK Tech’s own ergonomic guidance treats any sustained push above about 40 lb as a strain injury risk, and a loaded linen cart on a long corridor or a slight grade passes that on the first shove. A tugger takes the force off the worker and puts it on a 24 volt motor. The controls are dead man throttle, so the train stops when the operator lets go, and the automatic holding brake locks the load on an incline. Regenerative braking slows the train on the way down a ramp without wearing pads.

The wider electric tugger range uses the same drive platform for warehouse and plant work. The LS builds are the same machines with laundry fittings, so parts, chargers and service are shared across a mixed fleet. New to tuggers? Our guide to what an electric tugger is and our guide to choosing a tugger by load capacity cover the basics.